Ty Cobb

As a teen-ager, he came out of north Georgia to start his professional baseball career in 1904 playing for the Augusta Tourists. He soon was snapped up by the Detroit Tigers for which he played throughout his career, except for his last two seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics. Ty Cobb was the first selection for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He married an Augusta woman who grew up in Augusta. They had five children. His reputation on the ball field was as a fierce competitor. He also was an astute businessman who became a multi-millionaire; not because of baseball but because of his shrewd investments in Coca-Cola and Chevrolet. Critics throughout the world hated him, but he golfed and hunted with giants of industry and U.S. presidents and was honored by Augustans three separate times.